Shaw Farms

I joined a Mom's Group in my area and I love it.  There is something planned everyday and all the Mom's are great and fun to hang out with.  Well anyway, this was one of our playdates...visiting Shaw Farms for a hayride and other fun!

While we waited for all the Moms to get there, the kids ran around at the play area.  

Then it was time for our hayride.  We were treated like a school class since there were so many of us.

After the ride, we went inside the barn for a lesson in what lives and grows on a farm.

Then we checked out the petting zoo.  The kids got to hear the donkey bray and the roosters, um, roost.

More play fun....

And then I made them be models for a few minutes in front of this old barn that seemed perfect for picture taking.  Fia wasn't the most cooperative kid while in front and behind the camera, but I did the best I could.

Jack-O-Lantern Mosaics

We had a crafty playdate with Nathan last week making Jack-O-Lantern mosaics.  I wish I could say I'm a super awesome Mom and came up with this myself, but that is so not the case.  Anyway, the kids loved this!

Here was my masterpiece to show them what to do.

And off they went....

Madeline's finished piece.

 And Nathan's.

A Buskin's jack-o-lantern cookie seemed appropriate after this activity.

Fia didn't partake in the craft, but she sure got some cookie!

Fia Bia

Oh, Fia Bia. This little thing is a trip. I have a love/hate relationship with this age. Her cuteness factor is over the moon (just look at these pictures), but so is her annoyance factor. She still has that baby charm with her chubby cheeks and cute little feet. Everyone attacks her with kisses.  

She is a walking machine but still looks like a drunk baby and falls a lot.

She still doesn't say much.  She'll learn a new word and use it a few times, but then she stops. She recently added "down" to her vocabulary when she is done eating. She knows my name is Mommy but I've only heard her say it a handful of times.

She isn't the laid-back, no-cares-in-the-world baby anymore. When Madeline takes a toy from her or says "No", she gets upset. When she doesn't get her way, she gets upset.  When she is teething, I miss my day job.  No joke.  Those days are just downright horrendous. I am seriously frightened for her 2 year molars.

Madeline may be a Daddy's girl, but Fia is all about Mommy.  She is severely attached to me. I love it except for when I need to get things done, like cooking, laundry, etc. Sometimes she will literally be attached to my leg while I'm cooking dinner.

She is a cuddle bug.  She will come up to me and just want to lay her head on my shoulder.  She shares her hugs but I get about 80% of them.

She is in LOVE with the doggies. Her favorite thing to do is to go sit on top of Miles when he is sleeping. Needless to say, he doesn't share the adoration.

Her dancing is a trip! She has the booty shake down so we have regular dancing sessions in our Disco-tech a.k.a. the dining room.

She has finally started to leave the mini-blinds alone in the kitchen so I can leave them at a normal height now. Before, I had to always have them up away from her reach. We still have to block the dog bed with the ottoman. Otherwise, she will go lay with them. We also have to leave the laundry room door closed so she doesn't play in the dog's water. Unfortunately for the dogs, this means they have limited access to their water. I'm good about opening the door for them though when the Troublemaker is asleep or locked in her highchair.

She still messes with the dishwasher which drives me crazy. Although, I can finally vacuum the house without having to carry her too. For the longest time, she was scared of it so I had to carry all 26# of her with me. Talk about a workout!

Her favorite song is Happy Birthday and I MUST get her singing it on camera.  It is the most adorable thing you will ever see!

"Don't pity the Fia!"

VACATION!!

We planned our vacation for late September to avoid the busy season.  It was tough listening to everyone else going off to fun places and we just had to wait.  But...it was worth it.  We had a great time with great weather.  We stayed in one, big happy beach house with my parents, Grandma Cipollone and my sister and her whole family.  We had to walk a short distance to the beach, but we had our own private pool.

I took about 170 pictures and ended up with 49 "keepers".  These are a few of my favorites.  I plan on doing a slideshow like I did last year.  But I have less time than I did last year so it will be done, oh, maybe by Christmas.  

Some highlights of the trip:

 - Madeline actually let the ocean water touch her feet this time

 - Grandma and Fia becoming besties

 - Madeline and Alexis sleeping together.  The first night was horrible....both were up at their own times crying from nightmares.  Then they were up for the day at 5am swinging like monkeys from the top bunk bed.  Thankfully, they slept like angels the rest of the time.

 - The pool was our afternoon hang out.

 - The guys going fishing and bringing home dinner.  Man, it was good.  

While I captured some good pictures of Fia, she maybe didn't have the best time.  I think she wasn't sleeping well and therefore she was cranky most of the time.  She didn't like the beach pretty much every time we took her.  Although, I think it was mostly due to her being tired and the bright, hot sun.  I didn't figure out she would have more fun in the cooler evenings until the last night.  Oh well, there is always next year.

Best Buds!

Ah, life with kids

So Andy was in charge of the kids one morning (I can't remember where I went).  He left them in the house for a minute while he went outside to pick up the newspaper.  Little did he know that trip would prove costly.  When he came back inside, Madeline was standing in a pool of pee and Fia was sitting right there next to her playing in it!  I can only imagine the look on his face and I can't help but laugh.

He'd probably kill me if he knew I was telling the world this story, but it's too funny not to share.

First Day of PREschool

Madeline's first day of preschool was today and she did great!  She is in the Sunshine room. (Don't dare call it school or she gets mad and corrects you immediately.  It is PREschool!)

I snapped this last picture before I took off and said goodbye.  She could have cared less.  I think she wanted me gone.

She was super excited to see me when I picked her up!  She told me she had lots of fun.  I think her favorite part was a tie between playing outside and eating ice cream.

Kings Island

I'm always kinda bummed out that we live so far away from the zoo.  In Columbus, I took the girls there all the time.  But here, it's just far enough away where it's kind of a pain to go.  Fia inevitably falls asleep in the van and then refuses to continue her nap once we're home.  But one thing we have that Columbus doesn't is an amusement park in our backyard.  Seriously, it's like 10 minutes from our house.  We took the girls there a few weekends ago and had a blast.  We had no idea the kids area had so much to do for little ones.  We were there for a total of 3 hours and made the most of it.  I foresee a season pass in the years to come.

The cars and the swings were Madeline's favorite rides.

Can you tell it was 95 degrees that day?

Madeline just recently started recognizing numbers and had to sit in seat # 3.  

 What trip to Kings Island doesn't involve ice cream by the fountains?  And not just any ice cream.  Graeters!